The Traitor and the Betrayed
by Hades the Echidna
Summary: Fanfic contest entry for NetRaptor(incomplete). Sonic is almost mortally wounded, but recovers, not without falling into a coma, though. Amy now feels it's up to her to save Sonic. But what about Mecha? Just what is he up to? Why does Eggman seem to have
1. Cataclysms and Chemicals

The Traitors and the Betrayed  
-by- Hades the Echidna Also known as HadesEchidna Contact: e-mail: hadesechidna13@yahoo.com  
AIM: HadesEchidna  
Yahoo!: hadesechidna13  
MSN: hadesechidna13@hotmail.com  
Website: http://hades_echidna.tripod.com __________________________________________________ Copyright information: The beginning of this story written as a NetRaptor.org fanfiction contest teaser. It is not copyrighted, and may be modified as the author sees fit. Any fanfiction written with this teaser may be freely distributed. The Sonic characters are copyrighted by Sega. Hades, Verna, Sir Garfield, Julian, and the Fallen Island are copyrighted by Hades the Echidna (the author of this fanfiction). To use them in your own work, you must first ask permission. You may do so by sending an e-mail requesting the use of my copyrighted material. You will receive a reply within three days. And remember: Persistence pays off. Note: While Julian is copyrighted to HadesEchidna, he has nothing at all to do with Julian Kintobor, copyrighted to SEGA and Sonic Team. __________________________________________________ Author's Note: There are many age discrepancies with the characters. Some of you may call it "stupid," but I call that "creative license." A final note: If you cannot stand any sort of SonAmy pairings, then this is not a fic for your eyes. You have an opinion; I respect both that fact and your opinion. I understand perfectly if you are SonSally or SonMina. Or SonChicken. *shot* But I am entitled to my opinion, too. Now, on to the fic; I've said too much already.  
  
"I'll head him off, Knux!" Sonic yelled, dashing into a side passage. Knuckles bolted down the main tunnel, heart thundering in his chest. Metal Sonic's jet engine was hideously loud in the underground caverns, and he was already ahead of them both, homing in on the Hidden Palace where the Master Emerald was enthroned.  
  
Curse that robot! He had come out of nowhere, screeched around Knuckles and Sonic, and rocketed into the Floating Island's inner passages. He must have followed them down from the surface. Knuckles cursed himself for not noticing, and Sonic for distracting him with his chatter about chaos emeralds and Chaos Control.  
  
He passed a side passage and heard Sonic's echoing footsteps ahead of him. Maybe Sonic would beat Mecha there. The passages were so winding and convoluted that it would take Mecha a while to get there, even with his afterburner. The odor of his exhaust tainted all the air, and Knuckles cursed him--apart from everything else, it would take years for such air pollution to disperse from the subterranean passages.  
  
Knuckles turned down a side tunnel, ducking to avoid the low ceiling, and sprinted along bent nearly double. He knew all the old highways, and with any luck, he could cut the robot's lead and arrive in Hidden Palace the same time as Sonic.  
  
Fifteen minutes later, gasping for breath, Knuckles skidded into the high blue cavern of Hidden Palace. The Master Emerald was set on a pedestal in a  
  
bed of seed crystals. There was no sign of Sonic, but Metal Sonic's jet was  
  
echoing up the nearest entry tunnel. Knuckles sprang at the doorway and smashed his fists into the supports on the sides. The rock gave way, and the mouth of the tunnel collapsed in an explosion of dust and debris. Knuckles retreated, pleased to hear that Mecha's jet was now muffled and distant.  
  
Then it shut off.  
  
Knuckles stood still, straining his ears for any indication of where his enemy was. There were two more entrance passages, but he had come through one, and the other led out into Lava Reef. Metal Sonic would take hours to find his way through...  
  
A loud ping echoed through the cave, and Knuckles covered his ears. Unless Mecha used radar to map the tunnels, of course. Where the devil was Sonic?  
  
The robot appeared in the far doorway, his eyes shining red and evil in the  
  
gloom. Knuckles ran to put himself between the robot and the Master Emerald. "Stay where you are, Mecha."  
  
"That's a good idea," said the robot. "I don't need to resort to hand to hand violence to kill you. A single bullet works just as well." He opened a  
  
panel on his hip and removed a tiny pistol.  
  
Knuckles backed away, putting the Master Emerald's pedestal between himself  
  
and danger. Metal Sonic circled, trying to keep him in view. "Once the Guardian is dead, there will be no one to stop me from taking the Master Emerald for myself. Its fragments in my core will make me the most powerful  
  
being in the world, and the rest of the emerald will sell for an exceptionally high price."  
  
Knuckles heard the scuffle of sneakers on marble floor, and looked over his  
  
shoulder to see Sonic standing in the far entrance, panting and surveying the situation. Knuckles returned his gaze to Mecha to see the robot's arm flick  
  
up, aim briefly, and fire.  
  
Sonic flashed in front of him, and it was over before Knuckles realized what had happened. Sonic landed on his knees and doubled up, and there was blood on his hands. Metal Sonic lowered the pistol and began to laugh, staring at Sonic.  
  
Knuckles charged.  
  
Mecha stood stock still. There was a faint rumble, and the floor shook slightly. Nonetheless, Knux continued running at him.  
  
"Halt, you fool!"  
  
"And why should I?" asked Knuckles defiantly, still charging.  
  
"If you don't, there's a good chance that you shall perish in this very room, and not by my hand, either."  
  
Knuckles stopped in his tracks. "Why should I trust YOU?"  
  
"Hey, who has the built-in seismographs: me, or you?"  
  
"Will ya stop beating around the bush already?"  
  
"Lava Reef is going to blow."  
  
Hades knew that something was going wrong on the Floating Island, since everything from the sudden toxic fumes to the ominous tremors had reflected onto the Fallen Island.  
  
"Verna, I think Mecha's on the Floating Island. And something's not right there, either."  
  
"So do I, bro. I have the strangest feeling that we should go check it out."  
  
"Everything seems to be happening near Lava Reef and the Hidden Palace. We need to be very careful."  
  
Hades turned the masking fog back on, then opened a teleportal. Together, brother and sister alike disappeared in a flash of blinding white light.  
  
Rouge was already on the Floating Island and feeling the tremors. She had gotten there before Mecha Sonic because she knew he had a Chaos Emerald. She got a tip from a reliable source saying that he would be here, so here she was, in Mushroom Hill. Now, she was focused on how to save her hiney. Her ride was gone, and she couldn't fly for too long before she took a plunge. Suddenly, Mecha and Knuckles shot out of the thick forest and bowled her over.  
  
"What ARE you doing?" she asked with a harsh tone.  
  
Knux and Mecha had gotten to the point where their enmity didn't matter anymore, at least temporarily. They said in unison, "Rouge, run if you know what's good for you!"  
  
She didn't bother inquiring further. They all ran as if they were being demonically pursued.  
  
A short while later, they had reached Carnival Night. Lava Reef was far behind them, yet the tremor was bad enough to be felt as if it was right there. The darkening sky lit up with the gas fumes accompanying an eruption of magma.  
  
Knuckles only hoped that the Hidden Palace withstood the explosion.  
  
Hades arrived just as the eruption started. He and Verna were both thrown on their rears by the tremors. They had landed on the opposite side of Carnival Night. The power had been killed. There was no way of telling whether they would survive.  
  
Hades picked himself up and managed to get in the air. He swept Verna up and flew off in the tallaria.  
  
He flew around to the other side of the large amusement park. There, they saw Mecha, Rouge and Knuckles helplessly flailing about. Hades flew close by, taking care not to touch down.  
  
Knuckles said, "Hades, what ARE you doing here? Can't you see that we're in a bad situation here?"  
  
Knuckles related the entire story to Hades and Verna, then he suddenly went pale.  
  
"SONIC! We forgot about Sonic!" He continued on to spout some very colorful language.  
  
Hades bellowed, "Shut up! Look, we can still save Sonic. Verna, you get Mecha and Rouge off the island." He waited for Verna to teleport off, then he continued. "Knuckles, we have to do this."  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"I have two teleportals left. We need to get back into the Emerald Chamber and get Sonic out."  
  
"Are you CRAZY!?"  
  
"I may be, but Sonic is more important to me than my own life. We have to save him, or risk Eggman staging a hostile takeover. Hurry! There may still be time!"  
  
Hades activated the teleportal and pulled Knux in with him.  
  
They arrived in the emerald chamber. The tempurature had gone way up, thanks to the lava. Sonic's prostrated form was lying near the Master Emerald's pedestal. Oddly enough, there was very little blood there.  
  
"Knuckles, check his carotid."  
  
"Fine. No bleeding there, and there's a pulse."  
  
"Then we need to get him back to Station Square. This is serious."  
  
There was another violent rumble. Knuckles just barely sidestepped a falling stalactite.  
  
"And fast."  
  
Hades activated his last teleportal just as the chamber began to collapse. Knuckles despaired about whether he would ever see the emeralds again.  
  
They were at the hospital. Both echidnas were in the waiting room. They had seen that the news had covered the Floating Island situation.  
  
A number of things happened at the same time. Verna burst in hysterically. Amy raced in after her. Hades and Knux stood up, and were bowled over by Amy and Verna.  
  
Pulling herself from the dogpile, Verna tried to tell Hades something.  
  
"Fallen...ice flying...whole...island..."  
  
"Verna, take a deep breath." She did so. "Ok, now say it again."  
  
"There's ice chunks flying all over, and cold water is spouting near the Emerald Shrine."  
  
"Just as expected. The exact opposite of the disaster on the Floating Island."  
  
Amy was near hyperventilating. She regained her composure and said, "Is Sonic hurt?"  
  
"Mecha shot him. Almost no blood at all. Obviously, that ain't good."  
  
Amy broke down crying, sobbing heavily. It was all they could do to keep her from going mentally unstable. Hades was just glad that they were the only ones in the waiting room.  
  
Suddenly, the OR light turned off. A doctor came walking out of the room. To Amy's dismay, he had a very grim attitude about him. Nonetheless, she ceased her sobbing for a moment, listening to what the doctor had to say.  
  
"Sonic is still alive. We removed the bullet successfully, but there was moderate internal bleeding. Fortunately, we stopped it. If that bullet had gone any farther, he would have lost a kidney. He's very lucky, since that was almost the best type of pistol that the bullet came from.  
  
"However, for reasons unknown, he has become comatose. It seemingly has nothing to do with the bullet. Maybe a Chaos Emerald? Or maybe a lack of one. Any way you cut the cake, it has absolutely nada to do with the bullet. One at a time, we will allow you to go see him."  
  
Amy shed tears again, but this time, they were a mixture of both negative and positive emotion. She was thankful that he was still alive, but she was pained to hear that he had slipped into a coma.  
  
Amy was the last to go in. Sonic lay on the hospital bed, still and unmoving, with the one exception of breathing. Seeing him lying helplessly there, she couldn't help but weep. As the tears flowed, Amy had several flashbacks of their lives, some good, some not-so-good, some comical...but she didn't care. She cherished every single one of them, from the time she began chasing him to the time she finally understood Sonic to their last date.  
  
"Sonic," she said soberly , as if he was conscious, "I will do everything that I can to wake you back up." With that, she planted a kiss on his lips and headed out the door.  
  
Amy had no desire to return to her own place, so she decided to spend the night at Tails' house. After all, Tails was good company, and all the echidnas had no place to stay anyway. Tails greeted them all warmly.  
  
"Sure, Amy, you can stay, too. I've got another sleeping bag. Oh, and Verna, Knux, Hades: you can stay here until you think that you can go back to the islands. It's pretty awful, there. It's not getting any better or worse."  
  
Knuckles was just plain glad that the Chaotix happened to be off the island when it started. Otherwise, they would surely have died by now.  
  
Hades and Verna, meanwhile, had similar feelings: They hoped that both islands and the emeralds survived the odd disasters.  
  
Amy was still dwelling on Sonic's coma. She knew she shouldn't, as that was a definite route to depression, but she couldn't help it. Sonic, the one who had helped numerous helpless people, was now a helpless person that needed help. After broodng for a while longer, she decided that getting some sleep would be best for her. She closed her eyes.  
  
She had no idea how tired she was. Almost instantly, she was asleep. Oddly enough, just before she lapsed into darkness, Amy noticed that everyone had a strange, lightheaded look to their faces. In a matter of minutes, they were all asleep.  
  
The dark figure stealthily sneaking through the shadows of Tails' darkened house knew exactly what it wanted. It knew how to get it, too. It needlessly sneaked over to the lab door, as the sleeping gas would keep them out for hours. The steel door wasn't locked, and it effortlessly opened it. Funny, it thought, this seems too easy. Almost as if I was expected...  
  
The lab light was still on, and the yellow Chaos Emerald sat on the table, directly under the light and shimmering. Man, this is too easy! thought the figure. It stepped forward to take it. As it almost reached the table, it was suddenly snared into a trap and brained, doomed to be discovered the following morning.  
  
Amy woke up. Her vision was blurred for a moment, and her head was in pain. She felt very groggy, and she wondered why. She decided to let the others sleep while she headed to the kitchen for something to eat. On her way there, however, something caught her attention.  
  
The lab door was open. It was very peculiar, as Tails had shut the door the night before. She walked inside the lab, still not seeing that the snare had been set off. She noticed that there were dusty bootprints on the floor, and she knew that they werern't hers. Strangely, the footprints ended about 3 feet away from the table. She looked up and was startled by what she saw.  
  
Rouge was in the snare's net, which was hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly, it all came clear to her. Rouge had used some kind of sleeping gas, as she was wearing a gas mask and Amy had had a feeling that her sleep wasn't natural sleep, since she had woken up with a bad headache. Those were definitely her bootprints. And Rouge had tried several times before to steal the Chaos Emeralds.  
  
Amy walked back to the living room. Sure enough, she found a can of the sleeping gas. She woke Tails and Knuckles up. Neither seemed to be aware of anything.  
  
"Guys, stay awake! Rouge tried to steal the emerald last night."  
  
That did the trick. Instantly, both of them snapped immediately to attention.  
  
"That thieving bat! Her willpower is absolute zero! Her lust for jewels seems to blind her judgement, as she's normally a very sharp cookie! If she tries again, though, we'll need to use a different trap than that one. She'll wise up to it next time."  
  
Rouge had started stirring as the trio walked into the room. She viciously snarled at them.  
  
"Hey, bat," taunted Knuckles, "don't you have a better place to hang around than here?"  
  
"Oh, shut up! You know why I'm here, spare me the humiliation...and the bad puns."  
  
"Well, point is, you'd actually be tolerable, if not likeable, if you wouldn't keep letting your lust blind your senses! I oughtta-"  
  
"Ok, that's enough," interrupted Tails. This isn't the first time this has happened. Frankly, I expected this. But what I can't figure out is how come Rouge can't just control herself for once and leave the emerald where it belongs. I mean, let's look at it this way, Rouge." She snarled. Undaunted, he continued. "If you had controlled your emotions this time, you wouldn't be in this predicament. In fact, if you had done that right from the START, you wouldn't have been in this situation.  
  
"We'll let you off this time, but next time we're not letting you go without proper justice first."  
  
Rouge needed no second bidding. Before leaving, she made sure to kick Knuckles_hard, mind you_in the shin.She was out the door before Knuckles could retaliate on her. He shouted a string of curses. Amy just covered her ears and refused to listen to it.  
  
Hades and Verna woke up with a start. They heard Knuckles shouting, and they knew that was never good. They went to the lab.  
  
Knuckles almost had to be restrained. Amy filled them in on everything, from her finding Rouge to Knuckles getting kicked.  
  
"Well, at least she didn't get it," wisely observed Hades. "Let's not let that ruin our day. Let's eat!"  
  
Amy was still very depressed about Sonic, but she found it in herself to join them. Hades already had the oats and water on the stove for oatmeal. She decided to put the kettle on. After doing so, she took the teabags from the nearby pantry. Realizing that he had forgotten some things, she got out the brown sugar and raisins for him.  
  
She sat down at the table with Tails, Knux, and Verna. After an incredibly long, uncomfortable silence, the kettle whistled. As Amy brought down some mugs, Hades had finished the oatmeal. She gave everyone a mug with a teabag and water in it. Then she sat down. They all silently prayed, then they started to eat.  
  
Amy sipped her tea gingerly, so as not to burn her mouth. Rather than the usual chatter that normally ensued with their meals, there was a very dominant silence. They all ate and drank uncomfortably, each somewhat preoccupied with something or other.  
  
When they finished, they put their dishes in the sink and did nothing with them, another clue to each other's preoccupation. They headed out to the living room.  
  
At last, Amy could stand it no more. She said, "Guys, we need to stop dwelling on yesterday. I'll admit that I was doing it too, but we need to put the past behind us and try to solve our problems. Tails, we need to figure out why Sonic is in that coma, then we can help him. Also, we need to try andreconstruct the damages on the islands."  
  
Knuckles politely cleard his throat and said, "I'm starting to think that Lava Reef erupting was no random occurrence. Lava Reef has always been in danger of erupting, but ever since this island was created tens of thousands of years ago, it has never erupted...until now. I have a bad feeling that Eggman has something to do with this."  
  
Hades agreed. "I agree. I have a very bad feeling about this."  
  
Amy said, "Well, we need to get everyone-yes, Knux, everyone, including Rouge-together and decide what to do next."  
  
Tails added, "I should probably bring out the Chaos Emerald. We'll definitely need them all."  
  
Amy whipped out her communicator and made several calls.  
  
Shortly, everyone save Sonic was at Tails' house. Cream had only seen what was on the news and frankly didn't know what was going on. Knux tried to avoid Rouge at all costs, while Rouge was doing just the opposite, both still bitter about the events earlier that morning. This stirred up quite a bit of chaos, and it got bad enough that Amy had break a glass to get everyone's attention.  
  
Having thoroughly startled everyone, she was able to get to the point. "Ok, first off: We need to choose someone to lead us. We'll vote. But before that, we need to think about some things.  
  
"Sonic is in a coma. We all know that this is not related to the bullet at all. We need to figure out why he's in the coma, and how to wake him up.  
  
"Also, we need to pinpoint Mecha. Verna, what happened to him and Rouge after you got off the island?"  
  
Verna replied, "Well, Rouge went back to her apartment, and Mecha sneaked off on me. I followed him as far as I could, then I lost him. "  
  
Amy continued. "Thanks. And then, we have the islands to worry about. The eruptions have stopped, but we need to go out and check on them.  
  
"Alright t-then, time to vote!" Amy sat back down nervously, chastising herself for almost losing it, and tried not to dwell on Sonic.  
  
After a while, she decided that Knuckles would probably be the best choice. After all, he DID manage several times to stop Eggman from getting what he wanted. She scribbled his name down, folded the slip of paper and slipped it into an old shoebox. Soon after, everyone else had theirs in as well.  
  
Tails opened the shoebox. He unfolded each of the seven slips. Amy noticed that the shoebox happened to be the box from the soapshoes that Sonic had just bought. She began to tear up, but she caught herself before she could begin sobbing.  
  
After a little bit, he said, "Well, looks like we mostly agree. Amy, you've been elected!"  
  
Amy could hardly believe it. She felt that she wasn't a natural leader, particularly because of her past actions. But she felt that she had to accept the position. She did. She did so on behalf of Sonic.  
  
Later, Amy was coursing the streets of Station Square with Verna, both of them looking for Mecha. If he was damaged at all, he would be leaking some oil. Based on what she had told her, Amy suspected that Mecha was up to something. Funny though, Knuckles said that he acted like he had a will of his own. This wasn't adding up. Mecha was never one to be insubordinate, even when not in Eggman's presence.  
  
Suddenly, she felt as if the sidewalk had been yanked out from under her feet. She banged her funny bone against the concrete and expected to see bleeding. Instead, she saw a thick, black substance on her still throbbing elbow. Indeed, the oil puddle that she had fallen in was fresh, almost as if it had been recently made.  
  
"Are you alright, Amy?" asked Verna.  
  
"Yeah...but where does that oil trail go?" Amy pointed to the puddle, then to the thin line of leaked oil. It led off the sidewalk towards the forest.  
  
"Oh, good grief, no!" Verna exclaimed.  
  
Meanwhile, Tails had paid a visit to the hospital. He had asked for the bullet that they extracted from Sonic. Not unexpectedly, he was harassed with ridiculous questions until he finally managed to explain why he needed it. Unfortunately, there was a policy about stored evidence that involved quite a bit of paperwork. Tails groaned, stretched his hands out, and started writing.  
  
After finally clearing all that red tape, he was given exactly the thing he needed. Careful not to get fingerprints on it, he placed it in a small plastic bag and had headed home.  
  
On his way home, he saw an oil puddle on the sidewalk, accompanied by a thin oil trail and two sets of footprints leading off into the forest. He wondered what in the world that was, then continued, pushing the thought aside.  
  
Once home, he took the bullet into his lab. He powered up the lamp of his microscope. After giving it a chance to warm up, he gingerly placed the bullet under the lens. He looked at it under the lowest power. Seeing nothing unusual, he rotated the lens to 50x magnification, the second power.  
  
"Nothing, nothing..." he muttered aloud. "WHOA! Wait a minute!" He had found something unusual. A mysterious, almost phosphorescent vein of material was in the bullet. He skipped about 3 powers in attempting to see what it was. Finally, at 1000x, he saw clearly what it was-solid chaos mercury, a substance known to cause a comatose state if it reached the bloodstream in any way.  
  
Deep in the forest, Amy and Verna were still trying to track down Mecha. The oil trail was harder to follow, and all they had to guide them was the very foul odor that it gave off. The forest seemed to be getting more humid the farther they went. It soon became almost unbearable.  
  
Suddenly, Amy realized that the offending smell was no more. She also noticed that Verna was not with her. She had been wondering why it had become so quiet. She soon figured out that she lost the trail. As she turned around to go back the way she came, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her gut. She didn't like it, but she realized it all too quickly.  
  
She was lost.  
  
Verna, unlike Amy, had stayed on the trail. She hadn't noticed that Amy wasn't there.  
  
Is it just me, or is the oil smelling worse?, she thought. Indeed, the oil was becoming much fresher, if that word can even be used to describe oil.  
  
She quickly realized that she was being watched. Acting as if she was oblivious to her stalker, she kept following the oil. There was an icy sensation in her spine as she felt a pair of eyes boring into it. She tried to ignore it and kept following the trail. Until she realized who had been watching her.  
  
Indeed, the trail led right to Mecha, who seemed to still be leaking.  
  
Knuckles had returned to the Floating Island. There was actually very little damage, contrary to what it had looked like from afar. But there were some noticeable changes.  
  
Sandopolis no longer had its sand looking just like sand that you would find anywhere else. It was replaced by a thick layer of volcanic ash. The ash was so thick that the Sandopolis Pyramid had become inaccessible. But there was a new building in the desert. It looked as if it was cut from crystal.  
  
Drawn by its beauty and its accessibility, Knuckles couldn't resist going inside to investigate. He began to trudge there, the going very slow.  
  
"Man, this is when snow shoes could come in handy!" he said aloud. Being solitary most of the time, he was used to talking to himself. He found that it helped keep his mind sharp.  
  
Upon finally reaching the structure, Knux had to step back and admire it once more. Under the midday sun, it glowed beautifully. After his eyes had had enough, he headed in. He was surprised by the blackness of the corridor. He dug out his flint and lit a torch. Carefully holding it, he ventured farther into the inky darkness.  
  
Along the way, he couldn't help but notice that the walls were painted with murals similar to those found in the Hidden Palace and Marble Gardens. Quite obviously, these were meant to depict another story, as there were colored beings not previously present. He gazed at the murals for a while longer, then he continued.  
  
Knux noticed that it was beginning to creep into the evening hours. He noticed that the corridor was actually becoming lighter as the outside world was growing darker. It finally became lit enough that Knuckles was able to extinguish his torch. He kept it with him, thinking that he should keep it nearby, just in case.  
  
The corridor seemingly became wider and wider until it revealed a large, circular room that was darker than the rest of the building. Knux looked up and saw that there was no more stoneceiling. He saw the crystals again and saw the evening moon through them. SO captivating was their beauty that he almost wanted to lie down and staer at it. He was finally able to shake himself back to reality and look at the rest of the room. The first thing he saw was quite startling.  
  
There was the Master Emerald, sitting intact on its pedestal. The seven Super Emeralds surrounded it in a circular pattern. Seemingly they were all suspended in mid-air, the green emerald floating directly above the Master. There seemed to be little lights darting around the Super Emeralds' pedestals. These were the Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles realized. Taking a step back, he was nearly overcome by the beauty of it all. Apparently, the emeralds were all capable of saving themselves. He had worried needlessly over their fate.  
  
Seeing that relaxing sight cleared up his thinking quite a bit. He noticed that there seemed to be twelve different corridors, including the one that he had come from. Knowing the Floating Island like the back of his hand, he knew that he had come from a southerly direction. To the north were the Ice Cap mountain range, traversing west would bring him to Angel Island, and going east would result in being in Mushroom Hill. The other eight tunnels led elsewhere on the island, he realized. Sure enough, in Ancient Echidnian, the corridors were labeled. Barely being able to translate the signs, he finally found the one that led to Angel Island and trekked back into the well-lit tunnel system. 


	2. But Where's Amy?

Verna stood stock still. She waited for the deathblow at any moment. After a minute passed, she realized she was still alive. She opened her eyes, which she had tightly squeezed shut. Looking at Mecha, she realized that it hadn't moved at all, yet it was definitely still online.  
  
Well, she thought, here's my chance! She pulled out her trusty magnet and began slowly and stealthily sneaking up on Mecha.  
  
Mecha was barely able to function, but he could still sense the havoc that the magnet was wreaking. He was about to pounce in the direction of the increasingly strong magnetic pull, but he was too late. Verna shot forward and slammed it right on the CPU.  
  
"Well, that did it, Amy."  
  
Silence.  
  
"Amy?"  
  
Verna looked aroud her. Amy, of course, was nowhere to be seen.  
  
Amy was growing more and more terrified of the nighttime surroundings. She had no idea where she was, and even the humidity of the forest was dying. By the minute, she was growing colder. And even more disoriented. Soon, she had a hard time even standing up. Finally, the fatigue and the rapidly dropping temperature became too much. She dropped right where she was...into an oil puddle.  
  
Amy woke up. But she didn't wake up to the forest surroundings that she was in the previous night. Rather, it was foggy...almost dream-like. She looked up and saw the face of the one person she wanted dearly to see.  
  
"Sonic!"  
  
She leaped up and gave him a tight bear hug. He merely smiled, gave her a quick peck on the lips, then allowed his face to become serious.  
  
"Amy, ya gotta wake up. You know, you're only a few feet from where Verna is." He showed the deepest concern in his body language. It seemed to pull Amy in deeper. "Now I don't wanna wake up and find out that you died trying to save me. Look at you. You even fell in the oil! Follow it back north and you'll be back to Station Square in no time!"  
  
Amy was overcome. Looking into his eyes, she could swear she saw a slight glimmer near the bottom. She brought Sonic into a long yet modest kiss. A single teardrop rolled from her eye as she said, "Ok. I will!"  
  
Sonic's body began to fade away. The fog also started to clear. Amy woke up again, this time in the real world. Strength renewed, she picked herself up. She was about to keep going when she heard footsteps accompanied by Verna's ever-familiar voice.  
  
"Amy!"  
  
Amy spun around and saw her coming. Verna broke into a run as she told Amy what had happened.  
  
"So," said Amy, "all we need is for someone to pick Mecha up. Right?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
They found their way back into town. As night was not a good time to be lurking in that part of Station Square, Amy and Verna hurried to her recently purchased house.  
  
Upon arrival, Amy said, "Go ahead and wash up. I'll call Tails with an update."  
  
Amy picked up the receiver. She dialed his number. After two rings he picked up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, Tails, this is Amy."  
  
"What happened? You sound a bit tired."  
  
Amy quickly explained what had happened.  
  
"Oh, I see. Anyway, I paid a little visit to the hospital. I found something out about the bullet."  
  
Tails then explained HIS part of the day's story.  
  
"Did you say CHAOS MERCURY?!"  
  
"Yep," responded Tails.  
  
"Oh my gosh...that's pretty nasty stuff. Hey, whatever happened to Knux?"  
  
Just as Tails was about to say something, a door opened, then shut in the background.  
  
"That would be him. Hold on a minute."  
  
She waited a bit. While she did that, she got to thinking about her dream- like state from earlier that day. How did he do that?, she wondered.  
  
Tails came back. "Um...why don't we talk about this in the morning?"  
  
"Ok then, bye!"  
  
After he hung up, Verna came out of the bathroom. Amy went on to show her where she could stay fotonight. "In fact," she added, "stay here as long as you want." Verna thanked her, then shut the door to the guest room.  
  
She decided to take a shower to get all the mud and oil out of her fur. Not forgetting to take something to change into, she closed the bathroom door behind her, undressed, stepped into the shower, and pulled the curtain. Turning the warm water on, she was finally able to truly relax for the first time that day. Gently massaging the soap into her pink fur, she knew that she should try to avoid another day like this at all costs, as it was just too stressful. She proceeded to carefully shampoo her hair. After that, she decided just to stay in a bit and enjoy the blissful feeling of the warm water hitting her fur.  
  
Finally, she felt that it was enough. Turning the water off, she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. Quickly pulling on her nightgown, she picked up her clothes and left the bathroom. She found Verna's clothes on top of the washing machine. She tossed them all into it and started the cycle.  
  
Yawning, she walked into her room, leaving the door open. The clothes would actually be done washing rather quickly, so she decided to keep herself awake just long enough to toss them into the dryer.  
  
She picked up the remote control to her TV and turned it on, taking care to keep it at a reasonably low volume. Flipping through the channels, she found that watching late-night TV was virtually pointless, as things were blaring on the screen that would never have been acceptable even five years ago. Well, so much for the media.  
  
It seemed like forever before the washer alarm went off. Picking herself up, Amy walked up to it. Opening the lid, she took the no-longer soiled clothes out and tossed them into the dryer. After starting the cycle, she went to her room, closed the door behind her, and fell sound asleep in her large, comfortable ,queen-size bed.  
  
Hades, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. He had found that the results of the disaster had utterly destroyed the island. The only thing he had managed to save before the entire place collapsed was the Emeralds of Reflection and the Truth Emerald, the emerald that governed ofer the Reflective Powers.  
  
Although he was grateful for that, he was very upset about the island. All his life, he had lived there, only to see it crumble right before his eyes. He was very glad that his sister hadn't had to hear about this yet.  
  
His pillow in Tails' guest room was almost soaked through with silent tears. In an attempt to try and not dwell on the Fallen Island, he tried to remember the good times they spent together on the island, with their parents. Their parents...oh, how he missed them so...the destruction of the island made him feel like he was losing them all over again, in addition to making him hate Mecha and Eggamn even more.  
  
Suddenly, he recalled a time where a fox dressed in camo had tried to steal the emeralds. The fox's arm had been robotized. Of course, both he and Verna had sent him packing...Hades managed to utter a soft chuckle. He wondered what had happened to the fox after that. Maybe this chain of events had something to do with him. Who knows? he thought.  
  
Still unable to sleep, he decided to go to the kitchen and get something to eat. He was feeling rather weak, anyway. Upon arrival, he tested his blood glucose. He inserted the test strip, then pulled back the knob on the lancet device until it clicked. He brought it up to his finger, and pressed the butto. The lancet needle pricked his calloused fingers and drew just enough blood to accomplish the purpose. He brought his finger to the end of the strip. It seemingly sucked the blood right off his finger. After five seconds, the result showed up on the screen. It read: "59."  
  
Unsurprisingly, he was low. He ran his finger under cold water, then made himself a peanut butter sandwich with a glass of milk. As he sat down to eat it, Cream walked into the kitchen.  
  
"You're still up, Hades?" inquired Cream.  
  
"Yeah. I have a low blood sugar."  
  
"Oh. I can't sleep. I'm just going to heat a glass of milk up for myself."  
  
"Go ahead. Come sit down, if you want."  
  
After placing the milk in the microwave, she obliged. They sat silently for about thirty seconds. At last, she could not stay silent any more.  
  
"What actually happened to Sonic anyway?"  
  
As she retrieved her warmed milk, Hades explained as she drank.  
  
"Amy must care a lot for him, huh."  
  
As Hades finished up his last bite of sandwich, he said, "You better believe it." He slowly drank the last bit of milk in his glass, then rinsed it in the sink.  
  
"We'd better try to go to sleep. I have a feeling that tomorrow's going to be a long day," said Hades.  
  
"Yeah. Anyway, goodnight!" said Cream as she, too finished her milk.  
  
Hades plodded back to his room, feeling much better. As he climbed under his covers, he prayed. He knew that he would definitely never be able to make it through this all by himself. He thanked Him for allowing him to salvage the most important things from the island. After his final "Amen," he fell straight asleep.  
  
Finally, the lab light shut off. A very tired Tails emerged from the lab and shut the door behind him. He had stayed up all night trying to figure out how to counteract the effects of the chaos mercury. Quite obviously, it needed another pure chemical. The trouble was, which one was it?  
  
Tails finally narrowed it down: only the chaos elements 87-103 could reverse the effect. Of course, he had had to run some tests, and his chemical closet had more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Looking through the collection of solids and liquids, he had noticed a funny thing: all his chaos mercury was gone, as well as the chaos neptunium. Otherwise, the probable problem-solvers were all there. He had a sneaking suspicion. Chaos neptunium was very hard to come by, as it was only found naturally. And he had never used it at all.  
  
Right now he just concentrated on eating. Groggily, he toasted some has browns, downed them, and climbed into bed, despite the fact that it was bright morning.  
  
Cream had woke up and decided to get Tails up. Once she walked into his room, though, she saw his tousled fur and decided to let him sleep. He had done it again. Really, she thought, he needs to stop staying up all night.  
  
Three hours later, Amy woke up to the bright sunlight filtering in from her bedroom window. Stretching, she felt rather well-rested. She got out of bed and immediately made a beeline to the dryer. She pulled out her red dress and went back to her room to change. Then, she headed to the kitchen. Not feeling very hungry at all, Amy pulled down the cereal box and a banana. She poured milk into her bowl, peeled the banana, and sliced it into her cereal. As she began to eat, Verna came walking in. She had apparently figured out where her clothes were.  
  
"Morning, Amy."  
  
Amy responded, then continued to eat. Verna decided to have the same thing. After they both finished, they talked more about what happened yesterday. When the conversation shifted to the phone call, Amy told Verna what Tails had found out about the bullet.  
  
After chatting for about another hour and a half, they decided to mosey over to Tails' place and see what everyone else was up to. When they got there, Cream answered the door. "Shh...," she warned. "Tails is asleep. He was up all night again. Come in!"  
  
Knuckles and Hades were both sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast very quietly. Amy couldn't help but smile at them.  
  
"Eating breakfast a little late, aren't you?"  
  
They all quietly laughed. Then, rather unexpectedly, Tails walked into the kitchen.  
  
Of course, his fur was as tousled as ever, but he sounded like he had gotten genuine rest. "Morning!"  
  
After they finished eating, Tails went to shower. While he was in there, something dawned on him. Quickly finishing up and getting out, he hurried back into the lab, forgetting about everyone else.  
  
He slammed the door open, then raced to the back. Sure enough, there were footprints...but not Rouge's. They looked rather fox-like. And they led to the chemical closet. Tails did not like the way this was beginning to look. He decided that he had better pay a visit to Rouge, no matter how daunting it seemed.  
  
Still forgetting about everyone else, he dashed out in a hurry and took the bus to Night Babylon, where Rouge lived. This was the shadiest city he knew, and it made him nervous, despite his rigorous martial arts training. Breaking out in a cold sweat, he finally made it to Club Rouge. Going inside, he was offered little comfort. Normally, her battle club was open 24/7, but it was strangely empty.  
  
He climbed the stairs that led to Rouge's penthouse. Knocking on the door, he heard a feminine voice say, "Come in..."  
  
Tails did just that, and came in to see Rouge half asleep at the table. No wonder the club was empty...  
  
"Whaddya want?" Rouge moaned groggily.  
  
"Did you let a fox into my lab when you were trying to steal the emerald?"  
  
She immediately snapped to attention. "No, I didn't. Listen, twerp, it might have something to do with Eggman or Mecha. Oh, have you heard the latest? Mecha split with Eggman, and some fox has control of him now, even after your echidna friend screwed it up. Weird, huh."  
  
Tails heard no more after she mentioned the fox. In fact, he had already split. "Well, how rude!" she said rather hypocritically.  
  
Forget running, he thought, flying's gonna be faster! He flew all the way back to his house from Night Babylon, grateful to have left the shady atmosphere of the place.  
  
He burst in to find no one there. Briefly, he wondered where they went. Then he pushed it from his mind and flipped the news channel on. Apparently what Rouge had been saying was true. The fox was only identified as Savage Fox. Hm...where have I heard that name before? he thought. Ah, well. He paid attention and wrote down the description. 


End file.
